A neighborhood staple since 1999, Mildred’s strives to provide authentic, locally-driven cuisine. While constantly evolving in culinary style over the years, consistency for Mildred’s and chef-owner Bert Gill is supporting local farms, agriculture, and furthering culinary education within the north central Florida community. Reflecting its seasonality, on any given night the menu at Mildred’s might be different from the night before. Dinner is served alongside a small but carefully curated wine list that, like the menu, favors smaller independent wineries, growers, and winemakers. However, what is certain - the cuisine is inspired by a team of genuine individuals who care about their craft.
Crab Cakes Mille Feuille
Green Masala Sauce
1.5 tsp turmeric
0.5 tsp cinnamon
0.5 tsp cardamon (removed from pod)
1/8 tsp ground clove
1/2 large yellow onion
4 cloves garlic
2 bunches cilantro
2 bunches mint
1 cup coconut milk
Juice of 3 lemons
salt mixture to taste
Sweat onions until translucent then toast spices over the onions. Pick mint and cilantro from stems. Add ingredients to food processor or blender & process until smooth.
Beurre Blanc Sauce
1 large shallot
3 sprigs of thyme
½ lb unsalted butter
½ cup dry white wine (eg pinot grigio)
1 lemon
Salt
White pepper
Sauté shallots until translucent then add whole thyme sprigs and wine. Gently simmer until wine is reduced to 2 tablespoons. Reduce heat to low and whisk in butter until sauce comes together. Remove from heat and whisk in juice from one lemon. Salt and pepper to taste.
Crab Cake Mix
1/2 small onion
1 stalk celery
1 clove garlic
1 lb fresh blue crab meat
1 egg
1 teaspoon mayonnaise
½ bunch Italian parsley (finely chopped)
1 tbsp seafood seasoning*
Juice & zest of 2 lemons
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup coarse bread crumbs
*seafood seasoning (scale as needed)
1 tbsp celery salt
1 tbsp ground bay leaves
2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp dry mustard
Pinch nutmeg
Pinch cinnamon
Pinch ground cloves
Finely chop onion & celery. Add 1 tbsp butter to large sauté pan and sweat onions & celery about 3 min, adding garlic after 1 min. Mix all remaining ingredients in large bowl and add onions, garlic, celery. Mix well to combine. Cover & refrigerate at least 30min.
Separate crab cake mixture into 5 equal portions.
Roll filo dough (from recipe of choice) into very fine sheets. Lay out 3 sheets each stacked on top of each other. Shape one portion of crab mix into small log along long edge of the filo dough layers about one inch from the edge. Using wax paper or cheese cloth to grip, carefully roll edge of filo over the crab mix, using the wax paper to help shape and tightly squeeze the filo around the mixture while rolling. When finished you should have many layers of filo wrapped around a center of crab cake mixture. Repeat this process five times for each portion of crab cake mix. Next cut each of the five mille feuille rolls into thirds (or a size to properly fit on sauté pan that can go into the oven).
To cook the mille feuille, preheat oven to 350˚F. Lightly heat carbon steel pan (or oven safe pan) with enough butter to coat the surface of the pan very lightly. Place up to three cut pieces of the mille feuille in pan and bake at 350˚F for 10-12 min until flaky and golden brown and the center of the mille feuille is 165 ˚F.
Serve hot with green masala sauce and a light drizzle of beurre blanc
